East Hamilton is getting into the Christmas spirit early, combining today's middle school and high school basketball games with a fundraiser for Toys for Tots.
The high school teams will be in their gymnasium hosting Central with the girls' varsity game at 6 and the boys' game at 7:30, preceded by a junior varsity boys' game at 4:30. The middle school teams are hosting Red Bank with the JV girls playing at 3:45 and the varsity girls at 6:15. The JV boys play in between at 5 and the eighth-grade boys' game is at 7:30.
"The middle school has had charity games with Red Bank for about five years, or basically since we opened," said Derek Morris, head coach of East Hamilton's varsity high school girls. "This is the third year it's been for Toys for Tots. It so happened we had high school and middle school games on the same night, so we thought we'd jump on board with their idea."
Morris said East Hamilton teachers had a gift exchange of toys -- which was a good chance to poke fun at each other -- and then all of those toys will be donated. East Hamilton's wrestlers also have been collecting toys for the event.
The school's bands will be on hand to liven up the event. Also, any student who brings a new toy as a donation will be admitted free.
"We're blessed with a population that does have a lot," East Hamilton Middle School girls' coach Holly Smith said. "We wanted to do for others who otherwise may not have toys at Christmas possibly."
7-AA superlatives
Unbeaten winner Notre Dame received District 7-AA superlative honors for receiver Kareem Orr and defensive lineman Joe Dossett, and running back Auston Banks was named the league's offensive MVP. Signal Mountain's Chris Moore was named defensive MVP.
Other superlatives went to Grundy County quarterback Houston Mainord and athlete Logan Meeks, Notre Dame linebacker Tyler Enos and specialist Jared Andrews, Bledsoe County specialist Nathanial Collins and Signal running back Skye Wilson, offensive lineman Harrison Moon, defensive back Chris Feemster and athlete Tadarius Hodge.
Players selected to the all-district team were Notre Dame's Alex Darras, Robert Murphy, Josh Russell, A.J. Flemister, Michael Flynn, Hunter Stolpmann, William Mountain and Nick Grannan; Signal Mountain's Hunter VanDyken, Kaleb Menzel, Cole Johnson, Jack Teeter, Jared Menzel and William Franklin; Grundy County's Terrince Bramhall, Steven Baskin, Greg McDaniel, Eldon Posey and Nathan Carreto; Bledsoe County's Connor Boynton, Silas Mills, Drew Summers and Blake Sorrow; and Sequatchie County's Wyatt Presto and Hayden Hicks.
Receiving honorable mention were Notre Dame's Joe Enos and Chris Hornsby; Signal's Jack Chandler and Nathan Johnson; Grundy County's Jack Rice, Trent Hamilton and Christian Brown; Bledsoe's Tavian Dodd, Caleb Smith and Brett Boring; Chattanooga Christian's Justin Wheeler and Nick Fulmer; and Sequatchie's Adam Pickett and Hunter Davenport.
Jones, Tucker renew
Basketball may be a young person's sport, but don't tell that to Jerry Jones and Ray Tucker.
The two veteran coaches will grace the same court tonight when Tucker's new team, Gordon Central, visits Jones' Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe Warriors in a Region 6-AAA contest. The two men have faced off many times over the years, and though Jones isn't sure what the won-lost ledger shows, he has an idea who leads the series.
"He probably holds the edge on me because he had some really good teams when he was at Calhoun," said Jones, who missed last season while recovering from a serious illness. "I do know one thing: I always look forward to coaching against Ray's teams, because we've never had an argument and you know when you play one of his teams you better play hard and play well or you'll lose."
The two have become good friends over the years and share a mutual respect for the game and its fundamentals. The way Jones sees it, tonight could be rather historic.
"This is my 50th year and I know Ray has over 40 years in, so how many times do you see that today?" Jones said. "I guess we're really the last of the old guard."
Trion team honored
Trion tied a school softball record this year with 22 wins and earned a trip to the Georgia Class A Elite Eight in Columbus, where the Lady Bulldogs finished fifth, tied for the best finish in program history. Six Trion players made the All-Region 6-A first team.
Heading that list was region player of the year Jaden Morrison, a junior second baseman who batted .536 with 22 RBIs and a school-record 56 stolen bases. Joining her on the first team were pitcher Peyton Henderson (16 wins, 1.98 ERA), catcher Rayven Lawrence (.459 average, 28 RBIs), third baseman KiKi Evans (.511, 21 RBIs, 33 stolen bases) and outfielders Anna Floyd (.348, 19 RBIs) and Kerrigan Ramsey (.482, 28 RBIs).